Neck tie clasp



June 16, 1959 J. D. WILD 2,890,508

NECK TIE CLASP Filed Feb. 28, 1955 F1 7 5 INVENTOR Jonas Z. M0

' BY ,smyw; W

ATTORNEW Unit NEQK THE CLASP Julius D. Wild, Tulsa, Olden, assignor of one-half to G. E. Nicholson, Tulsa, Okla.

This invention relates to neck tie clasps and more particularly to a tie clasp having a safety device to prevent the tie clasp from becoming unintentionally separated from the shirt.

Tie clasps of the type now in general use are held to the shirt only by a light frictional grip created by the resilience of the clasp. Since tie clasps are necessarily of light construction the friction grip is often inadequate to hold the clasp in place particularly after the clasp has been used for some time and such clasps are frequently lost. Since tie clasps often are made of gold or silver and carry valuable ornaments and in many instances rates Patent G have sentimental value, several attempts, as illustrated in United States Patent Nos. 2,514,048 to Gragg et al. and 2,037,864 to Mix have been made to provide safety devices for preventing accidental dislodgment and loss of tie clasps. These prior locking mechanisms either include several additional parts which are expensive to manufacture, and cumbersome to use or are ineffective.

The present invention provides a safety device which may be incorporated in tie clasps of otherwise conventional design. More specifically the invention comprises a member pivotally mounted on a tie clasp which has a prong to provide positive engagement through the shirt material to prevent accidental separation or loss of the tie clasp from the shirt. The pronged member is mounted on a body section having grooves which fit between the two resilient arms of the conventional clasp whereby the pronged member is resiliently biased into its locked position by the interaction between the resilient arms and the sloping sides of the grooves.

It is, accordingly, a major object of this invention to provide a novel safety neck tie clasp which has a locking member adapted to positively engage the shirt material to prevent the clasp from being accidentally lost from the shirt.

A further object of this invention is to provide a novel tie clasp having a fabric engaging lock mechnism which can be inexpensively manufactured and readily added to conventional neck tie clasps.

A further object of this invention is to provide a novel neck tie clasp lock mechanism which is biased to either an open or closed position by the resilience of the tie clasp arms.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a pronged shirt engaging member adapted to be pivotally mounted on a tie clasp which, due to its unique construction and coaction with flexible arms of the tie clasps, is resiliently biased into the cloth of the shirt and does not require separate biasing means.

These and other objects of the invention will become more fully apparent from the claims and as the description proceeds in connection with the drawings wherein:

Figure l is a front view of a tie clasp embodying the invention;

Figure 2 is a side view of the clasp of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged view of the lock mechanism removed from the tie clasp; and

Figures 4 and 5 are front and side views, respectively, of the lock mechanism of Figure 3.

The locking mechanism according to the invention may be used with tie clasps of known construction. One such clasp of a type now in widespread use shown for purposes of illustration, comprises a bar of resilient material such as steel formed to have a top part 10 having two generally coplanar arms 12 and 14 joined at one end by a curved section 16. A flattened ear 18 having a hole 20 for receiving one end of an ornament chain, not shown may be formed on end section 16. At their other ends, arms 12 and 14 join sections 22 and 24 which curve about a common axis and come together into substantially contacting relationship. A U-shaped sleeve 26 has the ends of its legs bent together to substantially enclose and be secured to the arms on lower part 27 of the tie clasp. Ear 28 is an integral part of sleeve 26 which projects beyond sections 22 and 24 and has a hole 30 for receiving the other end of the ornament chain.

Arms 32 and 34 of lower part 27 extend upwardly and outwardly to a position slightly higher than the bottom of arms 12 and 14, then curve inwardly toward each other to contact arms 12 and 14, extend downwardly and are joined by curved end section 36. A frictional grip on the shirt material is provided at the contacting areas between arms 12 and 32 and arms 14 and 34.

As is well known, the tie clasp thus far described is slipped over the edge of the wearers shirt and is held in place solely by the frictional grip established at the limited areas Where arms 32 and 34 approach the arms 12 and 14. This grip is necessarily quite light because of the light construction of the clasp and the clasp may easily be dislodged and lost. After repeated usage the strength of the grip may be decreased thus increasing the possibility of the accidental dislodgement of the clasp.

The safety device of the present invention which may readily be incorporated in a tie clasp of the foregoing type after its manufacture comprises a pronged cloth engaging member indicated generally at 38, an enlarged view of which is shown in Figures 3 through 5, mounted on a cylindrical body 40 having a bore 42. Opposite end surfaces of cylinder 48 are formed with sloping surfaces which because of its small size may be easily formed by filing a first pair of parallel grooves 44, 46 in one diametral direction and a second pair of parallel grooves 48 and 50 in a second diametral direction. These pairs of parallel grooves are illustrated as being formed perpendicular to each other but they may be directed at any desired angle. Preferably they are separated by an angle greater than 45 It has been found desirable to make grooves 44 and 46 deeper than grooves 48 and 50 to provide a larger biasing force on the cloth engaging member when it is in its shirt engaging position than when it is in its open position as shown in Figures 1 and 2.

Arm 52 is attached to cylindrical body 40 as by brazing or soldering and carries on its remote end a pointed prong 54 which is preferably bent to an angle slightly less than 90 from arm 52 so that the pointed end is directed along a line perpendicular to a radial line from the tip of the point through the center of cylinder 40. A finger engaging body 56 may be formed on the end of arm 52 adjacent cylinder 40 to facilitate movement of prong 54 out of engagement with the shirt cloth.

Small holes are formed transversely through arms 12 and 14- in the clasp and body 40 is placed between arms 12 and 14 with bore 42 aligned with the holes through arms 12 and 14. Pin 60 is inserted through the aligned receive arms 12 and 14. Only two of the four positions are normally used, one being the position shown in Figures 1 and 2 with grooves 48 and 50 receiving arms 12 and 14 and a position 90 clockwith from the illustrated position where grooves 44 and 46 receive arms 12 and 14. The cam surface formed by the grooves has a small rise which may be of the order of ,4 inch on each end which causes sufficient deflection of arms or bars 12 and 14 to provide a substantial locking force for holding prong 38 either in engagement with the shirt material or in the illustrated unlocked position. Point 54 may be made extremely sharp so that it does not tear the fabric of the shirt and is preferably kept short enough so that it does not extend through the shirt and irritate the skin.

By making the angle between grooves 44 and 48 less than 90 the stable positions of arm 52 will be changed accordingly. It is preferable that there is very little flat surface on the ends of cylinder 40 as this would give additional stable positions which would not provide the force effective to urge the prong in engagement with the material of the shirt.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiment is therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed and desired to be secured by United States Letters Patent is:

1. In a tie clasp having a pair of members disposed side by side and connected by an intermediate section of resilient material which biases said members together to form a frictional grip along contacting surfaces of said members, one of said members having a pair of arms having resilient spaced coplanar portions, a shirt engaging member pivotally mounted between said coplanar portions and having grooves on end surfaces thereof serving as a camming means to engage and separate said coplanar portions of said arms as said shirt engaging member is rotated whereby said member is resiliently biased to a position which is adapted to secure the tie clasp to a shirt.

2. In a tie clasp having a pair of fabric engaging members disposed side by side and connected by an intermediate section of resilient material which biases said members together to form a frictional grip along contacting surfaces of said members, one of said members having a pair of spaced resilient coplanar arms; a pin mounted substantially transversely across a space between said arms and fixedly secured at each end thereof to each of said arms respectively; a shirt engaging member mounted between said arms for pivotal movement about said pin; a prong on said shirt engaging member for engaging a shirt when the tie clasp is in attached position; there being on an end of said shirt engaging member sloping surfaces forming grooves cooperating with an adjacent arm; side surfaces on said groove forming camming surfaces between said grooves; one of said arms bearing against the shirt engaging member and being adapted to selectively seat in said grooves respectively to hold said shirt engaging member in a desired position, there being a groove oriented for shirt engaging position and a groove oriented for non-shirt engaging position; and said camming surfaces being adapted to urge said arm into a groove when said shirt engaging member is pivotally moved.

3. The tie clasp of claim 2 in which the groove ori-- 4 ented for shirt engaging position is deeper than the groove oriented for non-shirt engaging position.

4. The tie clasp of claim 2 in which there is a finger engaging body on said shirt engaging member for pivotally moving said shirt engaging member; the finger engaging body and prong being at opposite ends of said shirt engaging member.

5. The clasp of claim 2 in which there are correspondingly aligned grooves and camming surfaces at opposite ends of said shirt engaging member and each of said arms resiliently bear against said shirt engaging member.

6. In a tie clasp having a pair of members connected by an intermediate section of resilient material which biases said members together to form a friction grip along contacting areas of said members, one of said members having a pair of arms having coplanar resilient portions, a shirt engaging member mounted for pivotal movement about an axis extending between and transverse to said coplanar portions, there being a recessed portion on one end at least of said member having a sloping side edge serving as cam surface contacting said arms to hold said shirt engaging member in a position adapted to engage a shirt material by displacing said coplanar resilient portions when said member is moved from said shirt engaging position.

7. For use with a tie clasp, a shirt engaging member comprising a rigid body having means for being mounted for pivotal movement about an axis and having end surfaces laying generally in planes substantially normal to said axis of pivotal movement, there being in each end surface recessed portions having smoothly curved side walls with a low point forming a groove extending radially from said axis of pivotal movement, both of said grooves lying in a single diametral plane through said axis of pivotal movement, an arm secured to said body and carrying a sharply pointed end directed substantially normal to a radial line from said axis of pivotal movernent through said pointed end, and a finger engaging portion extending from the body on the side of said body opposite said pointed end.

8. In combination with a tie clasp having a pair of spaced resilient bars, a shirt engaging member comprising a body mounted for pivotal movement about a longitudinal axis and having end surfaces normal to said longitudinal axis positioned between said bars and urging said bars apart, there being in at least one of said end surfaces a recessed portion forming a groove extending radially from said axis of pivotal movement to receive one of said bars whereby said body is resiliently held in a first position, and an arm secured to said body between said spaced bars and carrying a pointed end directed substantially normal to a radial line from the axis of pivotal movement of said body through said pointed end, and a finger engaging surface associated with said body for pivoting said body.

9. The combination defined in claim 8 wherein at least one of said end surfaces has a second recessed portion forming a second groove extending radially from said pivot axis, said second radial groove being directed at an angle greater than 45 with respect to the first radial groove to provide a second position in which said body may be resiliently biased.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 220,992 Scott Oct. 28, 1879 365,158 Van Duzer June 21, 1887 1,849,020 Allison Mar. 8, 1932 1,885,384 Snow Nov. 1, 1932 2,195,594 Kreisler Apr. 2, 1940 2,514,048 Gragg et al. July 4, 1950 

